Ice Cream Social

When we celebrated our 10-year anniversary of the Friendship store opening last year by hosting a free ice cream social, we had such a fun time we decided to do it again! This September, we held another festive ice cream social at the Friendship store presented by Seward Co-op’s Microgreens program alongside our community partner, and September’s SEED recipient, Midwest Food Connection (MFC).

MFC just celebrated 30 years of cooking, tasting, gardening, and learning with kids in local schools. We celebrated our partnership with ice cream and non-dairy treats, while educators from MFC showed kids and adults how a hand-turned mill can turn grains like oats, rye, and wheat into the flour that makes up their favorite snacks.

Microgreens is a Seward Co-op program dedicated to getting young people to think about sustainability, engage with their communities, and build healthy relationships with local food systems. Together with MFC, we had an afternoon of sweet fun for all ages!

Twin Cities Makers Fest

We continued the hands-on fun at Twin Cities Makers Fest, a free street fair presented by TC Maker, a non-profit, volunteer-driven creative hub for artists and makers in the Seward neighborhood. TC Makers Fest was hosted along multiple blocks of 31st Ave S and E 26th St, near the Franklin store. It featured free art and craft activities, demonstrations, food trucks, performances, and a makers’ market including 150 local artists and craftspeople.

At Seward Co-op’s table, we gave away fresh, local, and seasonal fruit and snacks, coupons for shopping at the co-op, and more. The highlight of the event was creating seed art, which drew in folks of all skill levels to work with beans, seeds, and legumes—many of which were from Community Foods producer Whole Grain Milling! Attendees could make individual pieces using templates of fruits and veggies or imagine and make their own ideas. We also invited folks to contribute to our large communal seed art piece, the Seward Co-op tree, created through the contributions of dozens of crafters, families, and community members. Check out photos from these two events and the cooperative seed art piece made by the community below.